Critics say the gun-rights lobby has successfully turned to the same tactics that tobacco companies once used to enact favorable laws and policies.

Written by

Liz Szabo and Meghan Hoyer
| USA Today

Critics say the National Rifle Association, in its efforts to block gun-control laws it says are unconstitutional, has used many of the strategies pioneered by the tobacco lobby.

Those tactics include suppressing information, blocking research, and pushing for state laws that prohibit cities and counties from passing their own gun measures, says Mark Pertschuk, director of Grassroots Change, a national support network for public health movements.

"The gun lobby has been amazingly successful in keeping research from being done," says researcher Stanton Glantz, who obtained and ...